The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis
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Int J Clin Exp Hypn · Jul 2007
ReviewEfficacy of hypnotherapy in the treatment of eating disorders.
Research on the efficacy of hypnosis in the treatment of eating disorders has produced mixed findings. This is due in part to the interplay between the characteristics of people with eating disorders and the phenomena of hypnosis. In addition, several authors have noted that methodological limitations in hypnosis research often make evaluation of treatment efficacy difficult. ⋯ Therefore, this paper only reviews literature with replicable methodological descriptions. It focuses on the three primary disorders of interest to clinicians: bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and obesity. The implications for evaluating treatment efficacy are discussed.
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Int J Clin Exp Hypn · Jan 2007
Hypnotic depth and response to suggestion under standardized conditions and during FMRI scanning.
Hypnosis is a potentially valuable cognitive tool for neuroimaging studies. However, understandable concern that Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in particular may adversely affect hypnotic procedures remains. ⋯ Within-subject comparisons showed that the magnitude and pattern of these changes and the degree of responsiveness to hypnotic suggestion were not discernibly affected by the fMRI environment. It is concluded that hypnosis can be employed as a discrete and reliable cognitive tool within fMRI neuroimaging settings.
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Int J Clin Exp Hypn · Apr 2006
Hypnosis delivered through immersive virtual reality for burn pain: A clinical case series.
This study is the first to use virtual-reality technology on a series of clinical patients to make hypnotic analgesia less effortful for patients and to increase the efficiency of hypnosis by eliminating the need for the presence of a trained clinician. This technologically based hypnotic induction was used to deliver hypnotic analgesia to burn-injury patients undergoing painful wound-care procedures. ⋯ In an uncontrolled series of cases, there was a decrease in reported pain and anxiety, and the need for opioid medication was cut in half. The results support additional research on the utility and efficacy of hypnotic analgesia provided by virtual reality hypnosis.
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Int J Clin Exp Hypn · Apr 2005
Control conditions in hypnotic-analgesia clinical trials: challenges and recommendations.
Case studies and controlled clinical trials indicate that hypnotic analgesia can effectively reduce pain in patients with a number of different chronic pain conditions. However, because none of the studies published to date have included a credible control condition that adequately controls for expectancy effects, at this point we cannot conclude that hypnotic-analgesia treatment has a specific effect on chronic pain beyond that that might be produced by a credible placebo intervention. This paper (a) describes the types of control conditions that have been, or might be, used in clinical trials of hypnotic analgesia for chronic pain; (b) reviews their strengths and weaknesses; and (c) concludes with specific recommendations that investigators should consider when designing clinical trials of hypnotic analgesia.
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This preliminary case report explored the use of hypnosis induced through a 3-dimensional, immersive, computer-generated virtual reality (VR) world as a means to control pain and anxiety in a patient with a severe burn injury. On hospitalization Day 40, after reports of uncontrollable pain and anxiety, the patient underwent hypnotic induction while immersed in a virtual world and received posthypnotic suggestions for decreased pain and anxiety during subsequent wound-care sessions. The patient's pain and anxiety each dropped 40% after VR hypnosis on a Graphic Rating Scale for his Day 41 wound care. Pain dropped similar levels on Day 42 with an audio-only version of the intervention and then returned to baseline without intervention on Day 43.